Cannes documentary 'Rehearsals for a Revolution' uses personal lens to chart Iran's history

For Iranian filmmaker Pegah Ahangarani, making her documentary "Rehearsals for a Revolution," which blends her personal history with that of her homeland since Iran's 1979 revolution, felt more like therapy than conventional filmmaking.

"I wanted to say everything that was on my mind - whether it was things from my personal life or things related to Iranian history - and I wasn't thinking about what would come next," she told Reuters at the Cannes Film Festival, where it is screening out of competition.

"Maybe if I had thought about it beforehand, it would have been a little scary."

PERSONAL STORIES, MODERN HISTORY

In the film, Ahangarani uses her and her family's personal stories to illustrate key points in modern Iranian history in five episodes using animation, old newsreels, family archives and tape recordings.

It opens with her father, who fought in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and his friend, who was executed as a political prisoner after the revolution, and ends with her recent years in exile and the deadly January crackdown on protesters.

Viewers are taken along as Ahangarani and her hidden camera take to the streets after the 2009 presidential election and listen to tape recordings her uncle Rashid made before he took his own life after the July 1999 university raid.

RAISING AWARENESS

Ahangarani described filmmaking as the one way she can draw attention to what is happening in Iran, particularly as widespread internet shutdowns since early 2026 have cut off communication for many citizens.

"The only thing I can really do, though it's not much, is to reflect what's happening there and not let it go unspoken," she said, adding that she aimed to ensure international audiences remain aware of the situation.

Her parents were outside Iran before the war broke out, Ahangarani said, but her connection with many of her friends, particularly from the filmmaking community, has been almost completely cut off.

"Many of them probably don't even know that I'm at a festival right now and that my film is here," said Ahangarani, who has expanded into documentary filmmaking in recent years after a decades-long career as an actor.

MOMENTS OF LIGHTNESS

Ahangarani balances the film's darker themes with moments of lightness.

"If you just keep showing darkness after darkness, the darkness becomes a bore and it no longer has its impact," she said.

That playfulness, she added, reflects a broader resilience among Iranians.

"Even in their darkest moments, when there's absolutely nothing bright in their lives, there's still something in them," she said.

-Miranda Murray/Reuters